Syria strikes on IS-held town kill 21 civilians: monitor

Smoke rises from the Syrian town of Kobani following a U.S.-led air strike - Photo courtesy of Getty Images

AFP

BEIRUT: Regime air raids on a town held by the jihadist Islamic State group in northeastern Syria have killed 21 civilians and wounded another 100, a monitoring group said on Sunday.

Aircraft dropped seven barrel bombs and other explosives late Saturday on the IS-held town of Al-Bab northeast of the city of Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Regime air strikes have repeatedly targeted Al-Bab, a stronghold of the jihadist group that has seized control of large parts of Syria and Iraq.

Syria’s military has increasingly resorted to using so-called barrel bombs, which rights groups have condemned as a particularly indiscriminate weapon that often kills civilians.

Barrel bombs are typically constructed from large oil drums, gas cylinders or water tanks filled with high explosives and scrap metal.

The Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a broad network of sources in Syria, and local activists say the regime has stepped its use of the crude weapons in recent weeks, as international attention focuses on the fight against IS.